Every month, our contributors submit lists of ten films fitting certain topics. Each month, we feature an alphabetical list of films along with commentary explaining our selections. There will also be an itemized list at the end of each of our individual selections.
For being a decade that many conceive of as the nadir of cinema, the 1980s sure provided a broad range of popular and/or critically acclaimed films. This is evinced in the fact that since the beginning of our poll, no decades has had such a broad representational cross-section of the decade than this.
Our contributors provided a list of films that had none receive more than two votes and there were only six films that managed to appear on multiple lists (Brazil, Driving Miss Daisy, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Ordinary People, A Passage to India, and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown). To me, that showcases that there was a lot to love in the decade that, for good or ill, redefined the summer blockbuster.
After the break, dig into our setups and follow that by reading about each film.
The Introductions
Wesley Lovell: A lot of historians give the 1980s a bad rap for its bountiful selection of blockbusters; however, while the post-80s blockbusters were less interesting, there’s no question that the 1980s had some of the best from Raiders of the Lost Ark to Back to the Future two films, that could have made my list if the decade weren’t filled with so many potential options. I even had to pull Victor/Victoria from my last after I remembered a film that I hadn’t yet included, but needed to be.
Peter J. Patrick: The 1980s was not a decade in which I had too many alternatives to my selections although four directors, Oliver Stone with Platoon, James L. Brooks with Terms of Endearment, Steven Spielberg with The Color Purple, and John Huston with Prizzi’s Honor, all could have had two films on the list. I also came close to including On Golden Pond, not for its content but for being the last film to give us two stars of the golden era in what we knew would be the last hurrah for both in a film that had to get special permission from SAG to film during a prolonged actors’ strike.
Tripp Burton: We often malign the 1980s as a low-point in cinema, but while there was a lot of dreck being churned out from studios, it also contains a lot of my favorite films of all time. This list, in many ways, contains films that are just as bold, ambitious, and wonderful as our other decades’ lists. I also tried to keep my list to one film per director, or else Woody Allen, David Lynch, and the Coen Brothers all could have had multiple films on the list.
Thomas LaTourrette: For a long time I felt like it was going to be difficult to come up with a top ten for this decade. There were a few like Ordinary People and Dead Poets Society that easily rode to the top, but after the first five I was having trouble deciding among them. Now that I am writing this and thought about it more, it has gotten difficult to keep it to just ten. Au Revoir les Enfants and Gallipoli both were slow moving films that built to devastating finales, but I found their earlier deliberate pace problematic enough to keep them off the list. Missing and The Official Story were both films with somewhat similar stories about trying to find disappeared people in Chile and Argentina. The touching Field of Dreams and humorous Moonstruck also came close to making the list. The one I am saddest to leave off is A Room with a View, the lovely Merchant/Ivory film that captured the feel of the E.M. Forster novel. He also wrote A Passage to India, so perhaps I felt that one could only use him once, even though it is one of my favorite films. Still, this feels like a strong list.
Airplane! (1980)
(dir. Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker) Commentary by Tripp Burton – I tend to like my comedies to be character based and not an endless barrage of jokes, but Airplane! is such a perfect barrage that you can’t deny its brilliance. I can’t think of another movie that contains more laughs per minute than this film, and the fact that they are delivered not by comics but by serious actors treating the ridiculousness with complete honesty and commitment only makes the proceedings funnier. This is the masterpiece of a certain type of film.
Aliens (1986)
(dir. James Cameron) Commentary By Wesley Lovell –
Finding a great sequel is a challenge. Finding a sequel that is not only on par with the original, but potentially better than, is almost unheard of. Enter James Cameron’s follow up to the Ridley Scott original. Changing locations and slightly altering the tone, Aliens becomes a thrilling adventure that pairs well with Alien and in some ways may even be better.
Blade Runner (1982)
(dir. Ridley Scott) Commentary By Wesley Lovell – There was something pristine, almost sterile, about science fiction prior to the release of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, a dark underbelly of society puts Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) into the role of a rough and tumble police detective, attempting to hunt down and exterminate robots known as Replicants. Blending the aesthetics and style of film noir with sci-fi was a bold step and it worked out incredibly well, topping many films of both genres.
Blue Velvet (1986)
(dir. David Lynch) Commentary by Tripp Burton – Blue Velvet is probably the most controversial film of David Lynch’s career, with as many people put off by the violence and cruelty of the film as people drawn to the film’s fine-tuned deconstruction of suburban America. Filled with bold performances, especially from Dennis Hopper as a crazed gangster and Isabella Rossellini as his abused mistress, and a myriad of quintessential David Lynch set pieces, Blue Velvet isn’t an easy film, but it is a necessary and wonderful one.
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
(dir. Oliver Stone) Commentary by Peter J. Patrick – Ron Kovic’s autobiography was originally intended as a vehicle for Al Pacino to be directed by William Friedkin. Pacino turned down Stone’s offer to play Kovic’s father when the film finally went before the cameras nine years later. Tom Cruise proved to be a formidable substitute, earning his first Oscar nomination as Kovic, who gave the actor the bronze star he was awarded for his service in Vietnam. The film won two of the eight Oscars it was nominated for, those for Best Director and Best Film Editing.
Brazil (1985)
(dir. Terry Gilliam) Commentary By Wesley Lovell – Leaving the Monty Python troop behind, but maintaining his roots to the type of comedy they made popular, director Terry Gilliam took science-fiction in a new and different direction with his bizarre, twisted, and engaging look at a futuristic society where the status quo must be preserved. Taking cues from George Orwell’s 1984 and mixing in his own absurdist elements, Gilliam helped turn the 1980s into a decade of assured science fiction boldness.
Commentary by Peter J. Patrick – Monty Python’s Gilliam outdoes George Orwell’s 1984 with his bleak take on a dystopian near-future. Severely cut by Universal, Gilliam showed his full cut of the film to students at USC which was attended by the Los Angeles Film Critics who voted the film the best of the year, forcing Universal to release Gilliam’s cut. Jonathan Pryce is the harried civil servant erroneously labeled a terrorist by his government. Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, and Ian Richardson head the superb supporting cast.
Broadcast News (1987)
(dir. James L. Brooks) Commentary by Peter J. Patrick – Before Brooks won his Oscar for directing 1983’s Terms of Endearment, he was best known for his TV direction of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and other popular TV series. That put in good stead for directing Broadcast News, which like The Mary Tyler Moore Show is set in a TV newsroom. William Hurt, Holly Hunter, and Albert Brooks form the triangle from which most of the sparks fly in this multi-award-winning film. Jack Nicholson has a featured role.
The Color Purple (1985)
(dir. Steven Spielberg) Commentary By Wesley Lovell – Although he was criticized at the time for softening the lesbian relationship at the heart of Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple, Steven Spielberg nevertheless commands the screen with his marvelous adaptation. Featuring career-high performances by Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, and Oprah Winfrey, Spielberg tackled a story that most directors were afraid to touch and did so with aplomb.
The Dead (1987)
(dir. John Huston) Commentary by Peter J. Patrick – Huston directed many Hollywood classics, but none of them were as personal to the director as this posthumously released gem featuring an Oscar-nominated script by son Tony from James Joyce’s short story from his 1914 collection The Dubliners. Daughter Anjelica is top billed in this ensemble piece about a family gathering on Little Christmas (the Feast of the Epiphany.) It’s Donal McCann as her husband whose soul swoons as he hears the snow faintly falling all over Ireland upon all the living and the dead.
Dead Poets Society (1989)
(dir. Peter Weir) Commentary by Thomas La Tourrette – Peter Weir directed Robin Williams to one of his best performances as an unconventional teacher at a conservative prep school. He also evoked strong performances out of the young cast of relative unknowns who played the students, with Robert Sean Leonard being a stand out. In a time before the phrase was used, the teacher was encouraging the students to think outside the box. This runs afoul of the manners of the staid school and the carefully planned out futures of these kids by their parents. All does not go well, but one feels a sense of hope at the end of the film when some of the kids stage a gesture of support for the fired teacher.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
(dir. Spike Lee) Commentary by Tripp Burton – With a sprawling ensemble of legendary and up-and-coming actors and boatloads of Spike Lee’s signature anger and compassion, Do the Right Thing is a film that feels both completely of its time and light years ahead of its time. It is perfectly constructed, weaving dozens of characters together with humor, heart, and intelligence. It is sad that the film’s portrait of racial tensions, class struggles, police brutality, and political strife is still relevant today, but it is to Lee’s testament that in a world where no one is good or bad but just trying to survive that we all see ourselves in every character he creates.
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
(dir. Bruce Beresford) Commentary By Wesley Lovell – Becoming only the third film in Oscar history to win Best Picture without a Best Director citation, Bruce Beresford’s take on the story of an aging Jewish woman, Daisy Werthan (Jessica Tandy), and her black chauffeur, Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman), who become friends over a lengthy span, forcing Tandy to come to terms with the societal upheaval of the period that mirrors the treatment of Jews with that of African Americans. It’s a stirring and poignant drama accentuated by Tandy’s bravura performance alongside the laudatory performances of Freeman and Dan Aykroyd as Daisy’s son Boolie.
Commentary by Thomas La Tourrette – Alfred Uhry adapted his three-person play into a movie that totally managed to lose its theatrical roots. Many film adaptations hew too close to the original play, but this one opened up magnificently. Under the steady direction of Bruce Beresford, who sadly was not even nominated by the Academy, the story of an elderly Jewish woman living in the south and the black man hired to be her chauffer gently unfolds. Morgan Freeman as the driver Hoke, Jessica Tandy as Miss Daisy, and Dan Aykroyd turn in solid performances, but all the casting works well in the film. It is a gentle tale, but beautifully done by all.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
(dir. Steven Spielberg) Commentary by Peter J. Patrick – A film made for and about children and the best family film still that Spielberg has made, this heartwarming, albeit very funny film about an ancient alien creature and three kids was the highest grossing film of all time worldwide from the time of its release to 1993 when another film, Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, earned that distinction. Contrary to popular belief, it was not the first film of any of its three young stars, Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, and Drew Barrymore. Dee Wallace played the kids’ mother.
Commentary by Tripp Burton – In many ways, Steven Spielberg defined cinema in the 1980s, both with his own films and with the never ending stream of copycats that his films inspired. No big budget Hollywood film in the 1980s was as good as the decade’s box office champ, though. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is a blend of big special effects and intimate family drama, and it is Spielberg’s achievement that the performances of all his child actors are just as powerful as the revolutionary special effects that create his alien protagonist. E.T. works on every level — as a drama, as a comedy, as an adventure — to viewers of every age, and lives up to the financial and critical success that it garnered.
Fanny & Alexander (1983)
(dir. Ingmar Bergman) Commentary by Peter J. Patrick – Set in turn of the 20th Century Sweden, Bergman’s sumptuous family saga was intended as his last film, although he kept churning out scripts for TV movies until his death a quarter century later. Filmed as a five-hour, forty-eight-minute TV miniseries, the film version, which was released first, was pared down to three hours and eight minutes for its theatrical release. A worldwide phenomenon, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards and won four including for Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film.
Henry V (1989)
(dir. Kenneth Branagh) Commentary by Thomas La Tourrette – In a stunning directorial debut, Kenneth Branagh found a way to make Shakespeare relevant to a younger generation of viewers. It is a much grittier version that Laurence Olivier’s, but it also does a great job of showing the distressing parts of battle as well. Branagh cast the film with a veritable who’s who of British theater royalty and started to make them known to the American public. Branagh plays an enthusiastic king whose calls to battle are incredibly stirring. It helps that his speeches are backed by a strong score by Patrick Doyle, but one can understand why his men would follow him into battle.
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
(dir. Martin Scorsese) Commentary by Tripp Burton – Martin Scorsese has made a career of crime films. In The Last Temptation of Christ, he explores perhaps the greatest crime of all time — the crucifixion of Christ — by looking not at what leads criminals to do what they do but what happens in the mind of the victim during that time. It is psychological drama at its best, with Scorsese attacking everything we think we know about biblical epics while also honoring their beauty. It may be my favorite film of his long career because it is audacious, humane, and personal all at the same time.
The Little Mermaid (1989)
(dir. Ron Clements, John Musker) Commentary by Thomas La Tourrette – Disney started their Renaissance of animated films with this adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen story. A young mermaid yearns to experience life above the sea and trades her beautiful voice for the opportunity. With her friend Sebastian the crab to guide her, she tries to find true love and adapt to a world she does not understand. Like most Disney films, there are villains and sidekicks but all will work out well in the end. This one raises the bar by having brilliant visuals and a rousing score and some of the best songs in any animated film. It was the first of many outstanding films they would create.
My Left Foot (1989)
(dir. Jim Sheridan) Commentary by Peter J. Patrick – The first of Daniel Day-Lewis’s three Oscars went to his portrayal of Irish writer-painter Christy Brown who born with cerebral palsy had to do both with his left foot, his only controllable limb. Superbly acted by Day-Lewis and Hugh O’Conor who played him as boy, the film’s other outstanding performance is that of Brenda Fricker who also won an Oscar for playing his mother. Many of Day-Lewis’s scenes were filmed through a mirror as the actor could only perform some of the required actions with his right foot.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
(dir. Wes Craven) Commentary By Wesley Lovell – The slasher greats (Halloween and Friday the 13th) had already come and gone, but horror master Wes Craven didn’t think the genre had found its fill yet and entered our memories with his tale of a dream stalker, Freddy Kreuger (Rober Englund). Featuring a chilling theme song and an inventive premise, Nightmare easily became a force unto its own, yielding countless sequels and becoming one of the pinnacles of the great horror features of the 1980s.
Ordinary People (1980)
(dir. Robert Redford) Commentary by Peter J. Patrick – Redford had been acting on screen since 1960, but his Oscar winner was his first directorial effort. He gets amazing performances from his entire cast but most especially from his three stars – Oscar winner Timothy Hutton, Oscar nominee Mary Tyler Moore, and eventual Oscar honoree Donald Sutherland. Hutton’s star-making portrayal of the troubled teenager is especially moving, but the most extraordinary performance in the film is that of Moore who turns her trademark rosy personality upside down as his emotionally cold mother.
Commentary by Thomas La Tourrette – When this film won the Oscars for Best Picture and Directing over Raging Bull, many felt that a travesty had occurred. On viewing both films again, I think the Academy made the correct decision. A teenager is back at home following a suicide attempt and his family struggles with how to cope with both him and the death of another son. It is an intimate drama with strong performances by all the actors. The boy is trying to find his way and his parents have very different ideas of how to deal with him. He ends up seeing the kind of psychiatrist we all could hope to see. The emotions are boiling over and all does not end happily, but it feels both real and heartfelt. I would list it as my favorite film of the decade.
A Passage to India (1984)
(dir. David Lean) Commentary by Peter J. Patrick – Lean’s final film earned 11 Oscar nominations and 2 wins, including two for Lean. This was the first in a cycle of films in the 1980s made from E.M. Forster novels. Lean had wanted to make it since first seeing the London theatrical version in 1960. Gladys Cooper earned a Best Actress Tony nomination for her portrayal of Mrs. Moore in the 1962 Broadway version. Peggy Ashcroft won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the film version. Judy Davis, Victor Banerjee, Alec Guinness, and James Fox had the other pivotal roles.
Commentary by Thomas La Tourrette – David Lean showed that he still had one great epic left in him when he directed this film at the age of 75. He captures the rift between the Indians and the colonizing British and exposes the vulnerabilities of people that try to bridge that gap. It is both a personal story of a trip to see some caves that goes wrong but it also gives the feelings of the immensity of land and the sheer numbers of people involved. Lean understood how to use a camera and how to capture the scale of all that is going on, yet he never loses the feelings of the people involved. It is an impressive tightrope to walk. The story moves at a slower pace than we are used to, but the strong performances and masterful direction keep one involved.
Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982)
(dir. Alan Parker) Commentary By Wesley Lovell – While the 1960s and 1970s are often characterized by their attention to psychedelic aesthetics, Alan Parker’s cinematic tale following Pink Floyd’s legendary album The Wall takes us places we never expected. Taking a somewhat predictable story and mixing in symbolic and metaphorical imagery and punctuating that with compelling animated sequences, Pink Floyd – The Wall is one of the most visually dazzling, creative, and harrowing cinematic experiences, especially if you take a moment to understand all of the sociopolitical commentary.
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
(dir. Woody Allen) Commentary by Tripp Burton – Woody Allen made a lot of great films in the 1980s, but none were as original and hopeful as The Purple Rose of Cairo. This is a film that is as funny as any of Allen’s films, but also has a heart and optimism that can be missing from many of his movies. It is a reminder that art is the ultimate escapism, and that there is nothing wrong with letting us get out of reality for a little while and dream.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
(dir. Steven Spielberg) Commentary by Thomas La Tourrette – In the 1970s, George Lucas revamped the science fiction film with Star Wars. In the 1980s, Steven Spielberg did that with the action adventure film. Harrison Ford starred in another phenomenally successful series as Indiana Jones, the swashbuckling archaeology professor. He could fight his way out of most situations, though snakes were not his favorite, and even took on the Nazis. It may not have been believable, but it sure was fun. The sequels were never quite as good, and this one benefited from Karen Allen’s presence whose character could hold her own against Indy. The film also boasts a rousing score by John Williams.
Raising Arizona (1987)
(dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen) Commentary by Tripp Burton – In only their second film, it is remarkable that, so quickly in their career, they could come up with something as funny and wholly original as Raising Arizona. This film defines what it means to be a Coen Brothers film, already forming their ensemble of regulars and filling their frames with in-jokes and characters wildly outrageous yet completely believable. Like their best work, it is worth revisiting time and time again, and as touching as it is funny.
A Room with a View (1986)
(dir. James Ivory) Commentary by Peter J. Patrick – The second in the 1980s cycle of Forster adaptations and the first by Merchant-Ivory, this romantic feast was showcase for its entire cast including Helena Bonham carter and Julian Sands as the young lovers, Oscar-nominated Maggie Smith as Bonham Carter’s chaperone, fellow Oscar nominee Denholm Elliott as Sands’ father, Rosemary Leach as Bonham carter’s mother, Rupert Graves as her brother, and Daniel Day-Lewis as her suitor. Nominated for eight Oscars, it won three including Best Adapted Screenplay.
The Shining (1980)
(dir. Stanley Kubrick) Commentary By Wesley Lovell – Author Stephen King wasn’t enamored with Stanley Kubrick’s take on his novel, but there are few more visually iconic films in cinema. Proving that any genre Kubrick chose to tackle he excelled at, The Shining is a horrific exploration of alcoholism, isolationism, and supernatural influences. You can pick almost any scene from this film and find its influence throughout subsequent cinema. While it wasn’t Kubrick’s most richly insightful, it was no less brilliant filmmaking.
sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
(dir. Steven Soderbergh) Commentary by Tripp Burton – Steven Soderbergh’s debut film is more remembered today for its historical importance — the surprise Palme d’Or win and being an early independent breakout hit — but that is to negate the power of this four-hander. It may feel small in scale, but Soderbergh deals with such huge issues, and creates four vibrant characters, that the film feels monumental by the time it is over.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
(dir. Nicholas Meyer) Commentary By Wesley Lovell – After the disappointing first big screen incarnation of the legendary television series, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan turned the series around in an instant delivering one of the most dramatic, compelling, and exciting installments in the franchise’s storied history. Pulling in a complex villain from the television series and giving him even more rich detail, thanks in large part to Ricardo Montalban’s terrific performance, the film showcased how small-screen adventures could be adapted to the big screen with rousing success and still tackle heady subjects in the process. Utopian science fiction has almost never been better.
The Terminator (1984)
(dir. James Cameron) Commentary by Thomas La Tourrette – Arnold Schwarzenegger played a cyborg sent back in time to kill the mother of the person who would lead a revolt against the machines. He is frightening in his determination to track down and kill Sarah Connor. Someone else from the future is sent back to try and protect her and the startled woman is suddenly fleeing for her life, not understanding what is happening around her or why. It is a serious game of cat and mouse as they try to escape the cyborg. Well done shootings, explosions, and chases keep the tension up. The special effects would be more amazing in the sequel that followed seven years later, but this was eye-popping on its own.
Terms of Endearment (1983)
(dir. James L. Brooks) Commentary By Wesley Lovell – With wonderful performances by Shirley McLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, and others, James L. Brooks proved himself to be one of the finest directors of romantic seriocomedy. He presented flawed characters and gave them an intense degree of humanity, which has seldom been seen on the big screen this well. His insight into family dynamics and love characterize his oeuvre. Toss in a gorgeous score by Michael Gore and you have one of the finest family dramas of the 1980s.
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
(dir. Rob Epstein) Commentary by Tripp Burton – On the surface, there is nothing too revolutionary about The Times of Harvey Milk, a biographical documentary about the election and assassination of the first openly gay elected official in American history. But that is what makes the film so remarkable.Rob Epstein is one of our great documentarians, and here he doesn’t rock the boat but knows that remarkable people don’t need embellishing. They just need to be captured on film. This is a well-told story that needed telling, and the fact that it won an Oscar and became a cultural landmark shouldn’t overshadow the beauty of this document.
Witness (1985)
(dir. Peter Weir) Commentary by Thomas La Tourrette – Director Peter Weir lands a second spot on my list, and came close to a third with Gallipoli. A young Amish boy is the witness to a murder of an undercover cop and a detective interrogates him. Realizing that the murderer was another policeman, the detective takes the boy and his mother back to Amish country for protection. He tries to adjust to life in the Amish world, while they also try to adjust to having him live among them. The crooked policemen finally realize where he is hiding and come to take care of him and the boy in a tense battle. Weir directs the thriller with ease.
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
(dir. Pedro Almodovar) Commentary by Tripp Burton – Pedro Almodovar’s paean to screwball comedy, made with his signature vibrancy and seething sexuality, is a film that seems to transcend genre. It is funny and wacky, but with a bite that isn’t much seen in this type of film. It is a film that can’t be described, but should be experienced.
Commentary by Thomas La Tourrette – Pedro Almodovar would go on to write and direct more serious films, which may show up in later top ten lists, but this daffy farce still makes me laugh every time I see it. A woman finds out she is pregnant by her lover who is now leaving her. She is trying to get a hold of him, but keeps hearing from another desperate female friend. Their lives and those of many others who interconnect with them spin wildly and hysterically out of control over 48 hours. Add in a mambo taxi, barbiturate-spiked gazpacho, and a woman wanting to kill her philandering husband, and it all adds up to a wild ride. It is wildly unpredictable, and just a lot of fun.
Wesley’s List |
Peter’s List |
Tripp’s List |
Thomas’ List |
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